“Getting to the Table: Attrition in a Dispute-Settlement Program.”

Source: (1988) Mediation Quarterly 19 (Spring):81-91.

Factors related to attrition were examined in an analysis of 1,004 cases recorded by the Community Dispute Settlement Program (CDSP) of Delaware County, Pa., between January 1983 and June 1986. While agreements were reached in 85 percent of cases that reached the settlement process, only 18 percent of those initially contacting the CDSP reached that stage. The largest category of disputes, conflicts between neighbors, was the most likely to reach the settlement phase. For family cases, intergenerational conflicts were most likely to reach the settlement phase, while spouse conflicts were least likely to. Implications of the findings are considered.